Carlos Corberan hails impact of West Brom substitutes Tom Rogic and Daryl Dike in Sunderland win

Carlos Corberan Head Coach / Manager of West Bromwich Albion during the Sky Bet Championship between Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion at Stadium of Light on December 12, 2022 in Sunderland, United Kingdom. (Photo by Adam Fradgley/West Bromwich Albion FC via Getty Images).

Albion made it four Championship wins on the spin with a 2-1 success at the Stadium of Lights in which Rogic and Dike came from the bench as second-half subs to score their first goals for the club.

Corberan felt his changes’ influence on the contest was ‘fantastic’ and highlighted the need for any team to have sufficient impact from the bench.

“I am satisfied when the team win,” Corberan said of the success. “Of course there are things in games you must recognise need to change, the impact of the bench today was fantastic.

“You need that to win football games – not only us, any team in the world.

“If the players you put in can adapt quickly to the game, they can impact it. All of the players we have are at a similar level, so you know that any player we put into the game can impact it.”

Former Celtic man and recent free transfer Rogic equalised with 20 minutes to go with a stunning effort with the outside of his foot.

Before, inside the final 10 minutes, Rogic fed Jed Wallace whose stunning cross picked out big striker Dike – who has endured two serious injuries in his 12 months at The Hawthorns – rose to power the winner into the corner with his head.

Corberan added: “I think the performance of Rogic, maybe in the last two games before the break, and during the period of training, has been excellent. His performances have been excellent, and after training and working hard he can perform better in the football pitch.

“Dike is a little bit different because we need to manage very well his minutes in training and his minutes in the game. We need to help him to perform but also to stay fit so he can help the team.”

The Baggies head coach dedicated his side’s fourth win on the bounce – for the first time in three years – to club doctor Julian Widdowson, who died suddenly over the weekend.

“First of all before I start I would like to dedicate this win to the club doctor, who passed away at the weekend – it’s our way of being able to give something in dedication of him,” he said.

Corberan added on the game, in which the visitors fell behind to an Amad Diallo penalty in freezing conditions: “It took many many minutes to adapt to the game – the beginning of the game was very difficult. Sunderland was better than us, in every single moment of the game. We tried to press but we didn’t arrive on time. We didn’t win a lot of challenges in the middle of the pitch.

“We didn’t have the rhythm or the tempo of the game, but little by little we started to balance the game. In the second half we balanced the game for us, we played with a lot of personality, commitment, bravery and it helped us to achieve the result we wanted.”

By Lewis Cox

Multi-Media Sports Journalist

West Bromwich Albion Correspondent